By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Supporters of a proposed $2.5 million outdoor theater featuring a Civil War drama in Fairfield Township fear that a planned subdivision might bring down the curtain on their project.

The leaders of the theater project and representatives of a Girl Scout camp near the proposed subdivision asked the Butler County commissioners to help stop the development.

"We've been working on this for four years, and in less than 30 days we get shot down," said Jon Lawson, a member of the project's steering committee.

Kris Roselle, a Girl Scout volunteer, told the commissioners that residential development eventually would ruin Camp Timberhill.

The 90-acre site for the proposed theater on Ohio 4 is owned by MetroParks of Butler County.

The project's steering committee had hoped to acquire 59 undeveloped acres as a buffer zone.

But a developer, Fairfield Falls LLC, now intends to buy the privately owned acres.

The commission governing MetroParks recently agreed to allow the developer to build an access road from Ohio 4 to the landlocked property.

In return, the new road would enable the public to use parkland that is now inaccessible, and the developer would donate 29 acres to MetroParks.

But Lawson said the subdivision and the outdoor theater are incompatible. The noise from an outdoor Civil War drama, which would include firing guns and cannons, would disturb residents of the proposed 102-lot subdivision, he said.

Theater supporters estimate that the drama would draw at least 40,000 a year, similar to the attendance of Blue Jacket in Xenia.

The commissioners directed their staff to organize a meeting so that all parties could discuss a possible solution, including alternate sites.

Lawson said the MetroParks site isn't the only potential site in the county for the outdoor theater, but it's the best.

Mike Muska, MetroParks director, said he doesn't believe the subdivision would necessarily prevent an outdoor theater from locating there.

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com